Padma Lakshmi Reveals How Much Weight She Gained During Top Chef Season 10

You want to know how great Top Chef Seattle is going to be? Sure, you can try to get a sense from the goofy trailers, and the cryptic sound bites the judges put out when asked what we can expect, but the real measure of awesome? How much food was consumed.

Padma Lakshmi bravely revealed how much weight she put on while filming Season 10, and we’re fairly certain that 13 pounds of Top Chef fare translates to 13 pounds of good TV. She told YumSugar that “not gaining too much weight” was among her most difficult challenges hosting this season:

“Honestly, I think I ate more on this season of Top Chef than any time before and I’m not sure why that is. I think I didn’t expect for there to be such wonderful, abundant food in Seattle. It is a very serious food town, from the goat cheese to the crab to all of the salmon. I ate constantly. I think I must have gained 13 pounds.”